The present invention relates to a process for the recovery of a proteinaceous oat fraction from a dispersion thereof in a hydrocarbon solvent and to the proteinaceious fraction of oats so obtained.
Oats are a potential source of a wide variety of useful products. Examples of such products are flour, starch, protein isolate and concentrate, protein-enriched flour, bran, gum and oil. Traditional techniques used in the cereal grain processing industry are frequently difficult to use with oats because of process problems relating to the presence of oil in the oats. Moreover, unless the oats are de-oiled prior to milling, such milling processes would result in the formation of flour and bran fractions containing oil which may result in the development of rancidity on storage of the flour and bran.
Gum, together with some protein and starch, may be removed in part by treatment of oats with water, the resultant dilute aqueous solution of gum then requiring treatment prior to disposal or for recovery of the gum. Protein may be extracted from comminuted oats with aqueous solutions, especially alkaline solutions. However, gum present in the oats may also be extracted into solution and the resultant solutions may be viscous and cause process problems, especially in the separation of solids from the aqueous solutions.
A process for the separation of a flour fraction, a bran fraction and oil from comminuted oats in which gum does not cause significant process problems and in which the flour is essentially free of gum is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,211,801 of R. W. Oughton, issued July 8, 1980. A process for the separation of comminuted oats, especially flour fractions, into fractions differing in composition in which the separation occurs under the influence of centrifugal force is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,211,695 of R. W. Oughton, issued July 8, 1980.
The separation of comminuted oats, or fractions thereof, from an admixture of such oats or fractions and a hydrocarbon solvent may be accomplished by, for example, centrifuging the admixture. However such techniques are capable of improvement, especially with regard to the separation of products so that the remaining hydrocarbon miscella has a low level of fines. The presence of fines in miscella, usually in the form of a dispersion of the fines in the miscella, has traditionally been a problem in the processing of oil seeds. Miscella containing fines may be obtained from other sources, e.g., de-oiling of oats, or fractions thereof.
A process for the separation of comminuted oats, especially fractions thereof, from an admixture of such oats or fractions and a hydrocarbon solvent, including admixtures in the form of dispersions, so that the remaining miscella has a low level of fines is described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,208,259 of R. W. Oughton, issued July 17, 1980.